MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Managing Director of the Ingham County Road Department, Bill Conklin spoke to the Meridian Township Board at the August 7 meeting with updates on the Okemos and Jolly intersection construction project.

After the project was awarded a Transportation Economic Development Grant to help fund the construction, the project is moving on to the next step before approval.

"Our next step is to meet with these businesses and see if they could help us out with the local match on that. Alaiedon Township has indicated that they are not able to contribute to a local match on that, but were going to try to work with these businesses and see if they could do that," Conklin said.

Recommended construction to the intersection will include a north bound right turn lane on Okemos at Jolly to come north and turn right, an additional left turn lane on west bound Jolly to turn south, and a south bound right turn lane.

The purpose of the project is to ease traffic congestion during the peak hours of the day, but must be approved by all business owners that surround the Okemos and Jolly intersection.

With the Jackson National Life Insurance expansion of nearly 1,000 jobs, traffic congestion is only expected to get worse.

If business owners do not agree on construction plans, the project could risk only partial construction or a complete denial of the project all together.